MONTREAL -- Quebec’s immigration minister announced on Thursday a new pilot project that aims to respond to the province-wide shortage of orderlies that has become painfully apparent amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a press conference in Quebec City, Simon Jolin-Barrette said the project will bring up to 550 orderlies to the province. 

“We will have a great program, an advantageous program,” Jolin-Barrette said. “The criteria for the selection will be great…” 

In order to be elligible for the program, applicants will have to have worked as orderlies in their home countries for at least two years and will be required to work in Quebec for two more years to receive permanent residence. If these criteria are met, they will automatically be allowed to stay, Jolin-Barrette explained. 

“Between 2013 and now, we have only selected 115 orderlies because our two main programs weren’t attractive for them,” he said, adding that permanent residency wasn’t guaranteed in the past. “Sometimes they weren’t selected in these programs.” 

Though the borders are currently closed, meaning this project won’t respond to the province’s immediate need for orderlies amid the pandemic, Jolin-Barrette said the government will be ready to move forward once borders reopen. He said he is working on virtual recruitment missions with links to the “outside.” 

“It gives you a good advantage to immigrate here in Quebec,” Jolin-Barrette said of the program. “It will really be shaped to (orderlies’) profile.” 

When it comes to asylum-seeking orderlies tending to the crisis in the province’s long-term care homes – who many have said deserve permanent residency – Jolin-Barrette said he’ll share news when he has it. 

“We are looking at that right now and finding some solutions,” he said. “We have to talk to the federal government because when you’re an asylum seeker, it’s under the jurisdiction of the federal government.”

ALSO ANNOUNCED ON THURSDAY

Quebec will be relying more heavily on work experience for immigrants who apply to the province’s Programme de l’experience Quebecoise (PEQ) – an immigration system that has hasn’t changed since October 2018, Jolin-Barrette said. They will also be extending the deadline to process immigration applications from 20 days to six months, which the government says is a response to an increase in requests.

As of a few weeks from now, temporary foreign workers will have to accumulate three years of full-time work experience in the four years preceding their application for Quebec permanent residency. This will not change anything for people who have already applied. 

For international students who graduate with Quebec diplomas, full-time work experience in a field relevant to their degree for one or two years following their graduation will be necessary if they want to apply for permanent residency through PEQ. They too will be guaranteed permanent residency if they meet these criteria. 

Jolin-Barrette also announced that level “C” and “D” workers are no longer elligible to apply to the PEQ – those are workers who he said have little “technical competencies,” such as clerks, payroll administrators, receptionists, and employees who do most of their learning on the job. These types of workers will still be able to apply for permanent residency through another program called Arrima. 

The goal of these changes, Jolin Barrette said, is to make sure that the government is responding to the province’s regional needs in different domains. 

LANGUAGE

When immigrants apply to come to Quebec, they must demonstrate level-seven knowledge of French (an intermediate or advanced knowledge). There were a few ways for people to prove this: to take a test, to follow a French-language course, or to have gone to a French high school for three years. 

The government is removing the option of completing a class as proof of a knowledge of French, because many who passed still didn’t speak it well enough, Jolin-Barrette said. The government will still be offering classes if people want to take them, but the test will be necessary as well. 

Right now, there are no French-language requirements for husbands and wives of principal applicants for permanent residency in Quebec. The CAQ announced today that in a year from now, spouses will have to demonstrate a level-four knowledge of French, which is the same level necessary to receive Canadian citizenship, Jolin-Barrette said. 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Quebec will be launching another immigration pilot project related to artificial intelligence, the details of which have not yet been shared. Jolin-Barrette said the sector is “booming” and it is essential to attract specialists who can elevate Quebec to the international scene.